title: Parenting and relationship characteristics in mothers with their children having atopic disease.
abstract: This study compared parental cognitions and relationship characteristics of mothers of children with atopic disease with those of mothers of children without atopic disease. These factors include child-rearing attitudes, parental locus of control, parental sense of competence, attachment security, and maternal sensitivity. Preplanned subanalyses were carried out according to specific disease, mothers' perception of disease severity, and presence of concurrent atopic diseases. The descriptive comparative study of 233 Korean mothers included 102 mothers of children aged six years or younger with atopic dermatitis, asthma, and/or allergic rhinitis. Data were collected from 2007 to 2008 from local clinics and day care centers. Parental cognitions and relationship characteristics did not differ significantly between groups of mothers, except that mothers of children with atopic dermatitis showed less affection. However, subanalyses showed that mothers who perceived their child's disease to be severe were less likely to encourage autonomy and had a lower sense of competence, more rejecting attitudes, and an external locus of control. Although we should be cautious in generalizing these results, special care plans are strongly recommended for mothers of children with severe atopic disease to provide support and education, help mothers develop an internal locus of control, and increase parental sense of competence.
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing Science, Kyung Hee University, Republic of South Korea imyj@khu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Yeo-Jin
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Im
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of South Korea.
authors.forename: Eun-Sook
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Dongguk University, Republic of South Korea.
authors.forename: Won-Oak
authors.initials: WO
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, CHA University, Republic of South Korea.
authors.forename: Min-Hyun
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Suk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006969:Hypersensitivity, Immediate / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology*; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D065631:Rhinitis, Allergic / Q000523:psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
keywords: Allergic rhinitis; asthma; atopic dermatitis; attachment security; chronic disease; chronic illness child; maternal sensitivity; parental locus of control; parental sense of competency; parenting; rearing attitude